best snakeshot for the judge?
Just got my Raging Judge and goin to the river....anyone have a recommendation for the best .410 shot to use for snakes within 10 yards?....
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after lots of tests buck for 2 legged snakes,#4 for in your face, #8/9 for 5ft..10 yards the snake will laugh at you[:0] 0 -
Anything between 6's & 8's will due the job. Your dreaming as far as 10 yard pattern is concerned though. When I had my Judge it wouldn't pattern anything past 5 yards consistently.
The problem is that it's actual bore diameter is .452 to enable it to shoot .45 LC's safely. Normal bore diameter for .410 shotguns is under .400. Because of that the shot columns from the Judge open up and blow apart way to quickly.0 -
quote:Originally posted by eastwood396
Just got my Raging Judge and goin to the river....anyone have a recommendation for the best .410 shot to use for snakes within 10 yards?....
Tie a string to the triggerguard then throw the pistol at the snake.
If you miss, repeat.
Edit:
Alternatively, you can always whirl the gun around your head, and then SWING it at the snake. You'll build up a little momentum that way, plus the repeated rotation means followup "shots" will be instantaneous!
OK, yeah, I'm being a wiseacre, here, but IMO the "Judge" is such a lousy design, I find it hard not to snicker.
To answer the question seriously, I don't think it matters which shot type you use. Under 10 feet away, any of them "should" be enough to kill a snake (and yeah, I'd go with #6 or #8, or any conventional birdshot for that). More than 10 feet away, why even bother killing the snake? Just walk away instead!
As mentioned, past about 10 feet any shotshell is going to pattern like crap from any of the various "Judge" guns. Remember, 410 shells don't hold much payload, and short oversized rifled barrels like that in the Judge are exactly the OPPOSITE of what you'd want to optimize the pattern from the few pellets you do have.
Specifically, past more than maybe 4 yards, the pattern from a Judge opens up so much that gaps in between the pellets may be larger than the diameter of a snake's head. I've literally read reviews saying #8 shot gives an EIGHT FOOT wide pattern at 5 yards!
In other words even if you aimed your shot perfectly, past more than 15 feet its just going to be a function of dumb luck whether you even hit a snake at all.
Please don't take my word for it; see here for some empirical testing:
http://bondarms.com/close-range-snake-protection-gunhunter-magazine
More here:
http://theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41.htm
Note that although the author concludes "this will ruin a snakes day just fine", if you look at the actual pattern on his target, he's got one (and only one) pellet on the snakes head, and even that one barely. I'd argue pretty strongly that with the pattern he posted, he just as easily could have had a clean miss on the snake's head.
Also, and not irrelevant, penetration of these individual pellets from the short barreled Judge is absolutely LOUSY. Even a direct hit on a snakes head might just be enough to make it angry.
September 2010 issue of SWAT magazine also has a nice writeup on the Judge, where the author, Tom Givens, does actual testing and concludes that the Judge is functionally useless as a shotgun.
Bottom line is, even as a snake-killer, the "Judge" is pretty limited. Yes, it will certainly work at a distance of only a few yards, but so will any conventional revolver loaded with shot-cartridges, or even a long stick!0 -
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
quote:Originally posted by eastwood396
Just got my Raging Judge and goin to the river....anyone have a recommendation for the best .410 shot to use for snakes within 10 yards?....
Tie a string to the triggerguard then throw the pistol at the snake.
If you miss, repeat.
[:D][:D]0 -
I Load for my 2 in 410's using 44WCF brass mag primers,and 13 gr pryodex and T/C shot capsules.they are .420 dia. 5/8 oz shot.they work well in all my guns using 410.not a bad patern at 10 yds.tks,hedge[:D] 0 -
Winchester PDX1 Supreme Elite Personal Defense .410.. Has 12 plated BB's and 3 Plated Clylinder Projectiles..Crazy stuff 0
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